Bulletin-board.



THOMAS M. SHANK, OF HURRICANE, WEST VIRGINIA.

BULLETIN-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented Dec. 31, 1907.

Application filed May 23 1907. Serial No. 375,208-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS M. SI-IANK, of Hurricane, county of Putnam, and State of West Virginia, have invented a certain new and useful Bulletin-Board; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had. to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and cheap bulletin board suitable, especially for railway engineers but it may be used by other people for different purposes. By a railway engineer, it is useful in assisting him in remembering stations along the route where he has received orders to switch or do something. The bulletin is in a sense a substitute for the engineers memory so that he cannot make a mistake as to which station is intended or become in any manner confused about orders which are received.

The nature of this invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings andv the following description and claims.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the bulletin board showing the East side of it. Fig. 2 is the same showing the l/Vest side, the bulletin board being inverted and turned over as compared with Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a part of Fig. 1 with some bulletin bars turned over in pursuance of an order to the engineer. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig, 1.

A suitable frame 10, somewhat like a slate frame only larger, is provided with eyes 11, one at each end, whereby it may be hung up by either end. The word East is printed at the top when the device is in one position and the word West is printed on the opposite reverse end. Along the right side said frame is provided with a longitudinal groove 12, as in a slate frame but on a larger scale, the groove being wide enough to receive the right hand ends of the bulletin bars 13. These bulletin bars are simple slats or boards with two sides and with long spindles 14 extending through the right hand side of the frame and short spindles 15 fitting in holes at the left hand side. The bars 14 therefore are so mounted as to be longitudinally movable and each is spring-pressed to the right by the spring 16 on the left hand spindle so that the right hand end of the bars will project into the groove 12, whereby they will not turn. The ends of the spindles 14 are squared to apply a key 17 for reversing the bars 13. When the key is applied to the spindle 14, the bulletin bar is pushed to the left until its right hand end disengages the side 10 of the frame. Then the bulletin bar is turnedv half round and when released the spring 16 will throw it back into the locked position.

When the bulletin board is adapted for railway engineers use, as herein shown, each bar has the name of a station on one side and the number of that station on the other side and the stations are arranged in their proper geographical order as they appear in traveling east or west. When the engineer has received an order to sidetrack at N o. 432 in stead of relying upon his memory or the accidental preservation of his order slip, he reaches up to his bulletin board and turns No. 432 from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 3. That gives him the name of that station and the name of that station appears before him until the station. is reached, as this bulletin board is to be hung in the engine cab in front of the engineer. If he receives a number of orders before their execution, he turns the proper bulletin bars to indicate the various stations so that there will'be no loss of or confusion in orders as the same will appear to him in the bulletin board. When his train is going west instead of east, he takes down the bulletin board, reverses it and turns it upside down and hangs it in place, and this reversal will bring the names and numbers of the stations in their proper consecutive order while going west. Thus, this very simple device is easy to operate and is convenient for the engineers use and will tend to avoid disastrous results of slips of memory or loss of paper orders.

What I claim as my invention and. desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A railway bulletin board including a frame, and a number of independent bulletin bars mounted therein with the names and numbers of the stations arranged consecutively on said bars, each bar having the name of a station on one side and the number of said station on the other side thereof.

2. A railway bulletin board including a frame, and a number of independent bulletin bars mounted therein with the names and numbers of the stations arranged consecutively on said bars, each bar having the In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto name of a station on one side and the numaffixed my signature in the presence of the her of said station on the other side thereof, Witnesses herein named.

the directions of the travel of the trainsbeing THOMAS M. SHANK. 5 indicated on the frame of the bulletin board, Witnesses:

one direction on one end and the other direc- J. A. WEST,

tion on the opposite reverse end. S. M. PoLLooK. 

